


Yuri and the Betta

by FollowTheFirefly



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon: Yuri loves fish, Inspired By Tumblr, Yuri's betta is based on my own, and my own headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8354350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FollowTheFirefly/pseuds/FollowTheFirefly
Summary: In which Yuri drags Yuuri to the pet store to help him pick out a pet fish.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I had planned on writing a few other stories for this series, but this one was written first. I've seen all sorts of things on Tumblr about Yuri being a betta fish because he's always angry and this story is the result of a few headcanons involving that. 
> 
> Yuri's betta is inspired by one of my own, right down to the name. Actually, I might have made his tank setup a bit like mine, too.
> 
> I hope to god I haven't butchered any characterization, but I know I probably have. Oh well.

“But why on earth do you want a pet now? Don’t you have a cat back in Russia anyway?”

Yuuri had to admit that he was more than a little confused when he came down the stairs in the morning. The smell of toast, coffee, and tea was more than enough to wake anyone and after the particularly rigorous training session the skaters had the night before, Yuuri felt that a good breakfast was certainly justified. 

He hadn’t expected to see Victor and Yuri sitting at the table glaring daggers at each other, though. That sort of thing didn’t usually happen until after Victor had his morning coffee. In all honesty, Yuuri was becoming accustomed to the Russian skater’s angry outbursts and annoyed glares and he knew that Victor was more used to them than he was. Still, Yuuri couldn’t stop himself from wondering if something had happened between the two of them.

“I do, but I obviously couldn’t bring her with me,” Yuri snapped, reaching for his mug of tea.

“But you’ll see her when you get back home,” Victor shrugged, playing with his cell phone on the table.

Both men apparently hadn’t seen Yuuri enter the room, so the latter took the time to carefully sneak past them and duck into the kitchen. If he was going to be questioned by Victor and Yuri, he’d prefer to do so after having something to eat.

He grabbed a bowl and spoon and was reaching for his favourite sugary cereal when he heard Yuri’s voice, much softer than he was used to hearing it.

“Even I get lonely sometimes.”

Yuuri froze, his hand on the box of cereal. Yuri was obviously human and, as such, felt human emotions. But with the front that he put on, Yuuri would never have guessed that his rival longed for companionship in the form of a pet.

He heard Victor sigh from the other room.

“We’ll see what Yuuri thinks when he wakes up.”

“Why do we need his opinion?” Yuri sounded annoyed.

“Because we’re staying at his family’s hot springs, obviously.”  
By this point, Yuuri had poured his bowl of cereal and was about to leave the kitchen when the door swung open and Yuri stepped inside. Neither of them had expected it and it was all Yuuri could do to keep his cereal from falling to the floor as he and Yuri jumped back in surprise. 

“The hell?” Yuri stepped back out into the living room. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here?” Yuuri cocked his head to the side.

“I know that, dumbass.” Yuri crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I thought that you were still asleep.”

“Clearly not,” came Victor’s voice from the living room. “Join in on this conversation, would you?”

“Dare I ask why?” Yuuri asked hesitantly, carrying his breakfast as he followed Yuri back to the table.

“Yuri has decided that he wants a pet.” Victor leaned his elbow on the table.

“That shouldn’t be a problem as long as you take care of it.” Yuuri took his seat next to Yuri and across from Victor. 

“Told you.” Yuri stuck his tongue out at Victor. 

“But have you even given any thought as to what you’d like?” Victor asked in a bored voice.

Yuuri glanced at the smaller boy and he noticed that his rival was looking embarrassed.

“What is it?” Yuuri asked curiously.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Yuri spoke.

“I was thinking of getting a betta fish.”

Victor and Yuuri stared at the boy. Of all of the pets in the world, this was the last one they expected him to pic,

“A betta fish.” Victor repeated.

“What made you decide that?” Yuuri asked through a mouthful of cereal.

“I saw some from some of the market vendors,” Yuri started to say.

“Oh, the ones on the main street.” Yuuri knew the ones he was talking about.

“I just thought they were so pretty.” Yuri said as he drummed his fingers on the table. “With their bright colours and long fins, you know?”

“Do you even know anything about a betta fish?” Victor looked up at Yuri, wondering if this was just another impulse buy. 

“They’ll fight any other fish you put them in a tank with.” Yuri responded.

“Not quite,” Yuuri corrected him. When Victor and Yuri both gave him puzzled looks, he explained. “I had one when I was in college.”

“Really?” Victor seemed surprised, by which of Yuuri’s statements, he couldn’t be sure.

“They get on well with most species of catfish, which is good because catfish are great bottom feeders.” Yuuri went on, tapping the spoon against the bowl.

“Do you still have the tank and everything?” Yuri asked.

“Or the fish?” From the tone of his voice, Victor obviously felt that this was a more important question.

“No, he died during my senior year and I never got another one.” Yuuri shook his head. “But I’ll go with you to help get the supplies if you’d like.”

“After practice, of course.” Victor felt compelled to say.

Yuri thought about this for a few minutes, staring at a fixed point on the table.

“Deal.” Yuri nodded. “But only if I get to pick out the fish.”

“Of course you would.” Victor rolled his eyes. “It’s your fish, isn’t it?”

-

“This is seriously the only pet store in town? It’s so small!”

The late afternoon found the skaters downtown at the local pet shop, which was apparently much smaller than Yuri had expected. Yuuri had bothered his sister’s car so they could load up the tank and supplies and carry them back to the hot springs. He’d told her that they’d only be using it for an hour or two but as he watched Yuri wander through the aisles, he wondered if he should send her a text that they might take longer than he’d initially thought.

“It’s not that big of a town, you know.” Yuuri shrugged. “But I wonder why Victor didn’t want to come.”

“He said he wanted to skate by himself.” Yuri was absentmindedly going through the various fish food. “Hey Yuuri, I can give him this one, right?”

Yuuri looked at the bottle of food that Yuri was holding up and said, “Sure, if you plan on getting a goldfish.”

Frowning, Yuri looked down at the bottle and, realizing his mistake, put it back on the shelf.

“But what do I feed him?” There was genuine concern in Yuri’s voice. “Nothing here is marked for a betta fish!”

“When I had Magnus, he used to love to eat algae pellets.” Yuuri looked through the many containers of fish food. 

“Algae pellets?” Yuri arched an eyebrow.

“They’re for catfish or other bottom feeders.” Yuuri explained patiently.

“But you gave it to your betta.” Yuri had never heard such a silly thing before.

“He would eat all of the pellets before they could sink to the bottom.” Yuuri picked up a container of algae wafers and held it up for Yuri to see. “They’re essentially like these, but in little pellets and Magnus thought they were the best thing ever.”

“Maybe we should get a cart…” Yuri suddenly realized how much they’d need to buy and that they wouldn’t be able to carry it between the two of them. He dashed out of the aisle and returned a few minutes later, pushing a bright red cart in front of him. “Ready?”

“Excited?” Yuuri smiled.

“Of course!” Yuri grinned back. “Okay, so what do we get first? The tank, right?” He scooted over to the other side and found himself faced with dozens of different sizes of aquariums. “Uh, which size do I get?”

“Not the ones marketed for bettas.” Yuuri stood next to him. “They love being in big tanks.”

“How big was yours?” Yuri asked.

“About twenty gallons.” Yuuri had to stop and think for a few seconds.

“Then that’s what I’m getting.” Yuri moved over to the tanks and picked one up before carefully setting it down in the cart. “Oh, but I’ll need a lid, won’t I?” 

“Over here.” Yuuri pointed them out with his foot.

It took a considerable amount of time to get the right lid, filter and parts, and heater. Yuuri had suggested picking out the decorations and saving the fish itself for last, but Yuri was getting far too antsy and impatient.

“Okay, we’ll do the décor later.” Yuri took the cart and pushed it over to the section for live fish.

Yuri hadn’t heard him. He was too preoccupied looking over every single fish in their cups, examining their colours and fin types.

“Need any help?” Yuuri asked from where he stood by the aquatic plants.

“They’re all so pretty.” Yuri crouched down to the bottom of the display and picked up a white betta.

“Well, I’m leaving the cart with you, okay?” Yuuri pushed the cart over to where Yuri was kneeling. “I’m going to go check out the other fish.”

Yuri nodded in response, still focusing on the betta in his hand. When Yuuri returned half an hour later, the Russian still had a pile of fish cups in front of him.

“Yuri, you can’t have all of them.” Yuuri’s hands fell to his hips.

“I know,” Yuri responded, picking up a cup with a red and black betta. “I want this one.”

“Sure?” Yuuri had a feeling that they’d get home and Yuri would tire of his pet.

“Yes.” Yuri nodded, returning the others to the display shelves. 

“Okay, let’s go get some décor.” Yuuri regained control of the cart. “Plastic plants can cut them, so we’d have to get fabric plants. What colours did you want?”

“Do they have to be fabric?” Yuri asked, cradling the betta cup gently in his hands.

Yuuri turned back to face the younger boy.

“No, you can get live plants if you want to.”

“Good.” Yuri nodded. “They look much better.” He held up the cup so he could look at his fish. “He’d probably like real ones better, too.”

“You know you’d need to take care of them too, right?” Yuuri pushed the cart back over to the plants.

“Duh,” Yuri said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Okay, so go ahead and pick out the plants you want.” Yuuri watched as Yuri picked up each plant container, checking the specifics on each one. “He’ll like hiding in the shorter ones.”

“These?” Yuri held up a clear plastic plant container.

“Magnus loved hiding under them,” Yuuri explained. “Ah, this is making me want to get fish again.”

“Why don’t you?” Yuri asked as he tossed more plant containers into the cart.

“We’d need a whole other car to put the tanks and stuff in.” Yuuri propped his foot up on the wheel of the cart. “And would you really want to hold my fish for the whole car ride back?”

“Cup holders were invented for a reason.” Yuri continued looking through the plants. Looking at the large amounts of plants in the cart, he nodded and said, “This is good.”

“Did you want any other ornaments for a hiding spot?” Yuuri suggested guiding Yuri into the next aisle.

“Why would he need to hide?” Yuri looked at his fish with a mixed look of alarm and concern. "Is he afraid of me?" 

“All fish like hiding.” Yuuri stopped walking near the enormous display of ornaments. “Magnus liked to play hide and seek with me by darting in and out of his favourite barrel.”

“You played hide and seek with a fish?” Yuri questioned.

“Yeah, it does sound pretty lame,” Yuuri was just realizing this himself.

“I like this one.” Yuri held his fish in one hand and picked up a pirate ship with the other. He turned to Yuuri and said, “Is it big enough?”

“Just make sure that his fins can fit through.” Yuuri leaned against the railing of the cart. 

Yuri held the fish cup up to the ship as he examined every nook and crany of the pirate ship. 

“Yes.” He nodded after a few minutes. He placed the ship in the cart before saying, “Ah! We need sand too!” 

“Here, let me hold the fish while you get the sand.” Yuuri took the cup and placed it in the top section of the cart. He was starting to feel like the parent of a small child as he watched Yuri dart around the aisle, comparing the different types and colours of sand. “And don’t forget about his food.”

“Right!” Yuri had just finished setting a large bag of sand under the cart when he took off in the direction of the fish food. Yuuri didn’t even bother trying to follow him and chose to wait where he was. A few minutes later, Yuri was back carrying several different containers of food. When he saw the look Yuuri was giving him, Yuri said, “I didn’t want him to get bored with only one type of food.”

“I bet you spoil your cat, too.” Yuuri grinned, knowing that this was probably the truth.

“S-shut up.” Yuri flushed bright pink. “We have everything, right? Let’s go.”

-

“He’s still obsessed with that fish, Yuuri.”

Yuuri looked over to the side of the skating rink and saw Victor holding his phone out for him to see. Skating over to the side, Yuuri took the phone from him and looked at the screen. Apparently Yuri was uploading pictures of his fish to Instagram and it didn’t look like he’d be stopping anytime soon.

“You should have seen him in the store.” Yuuri handed the phone back to Victor and skated out to the centre of the ice.

“I just hope he takes care of it.” Victor tapped the screen of his phone a few times.

“I think he will.” Yuuri slid around on the ice. “It was actually kind of cute to watch him pick out everything.”

“Well, hurry up so we can go back and make sure he hasn’t flooded the place.” Victor called out to Yuuri, tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist.

It took a twenty minute walk to reach the hot springs, which was crowded with guests. Once they dodged most of the guests and managed to eat a quick snack, Victor decided to go to the baths while Yuuri checked up on Yuri.

When he reached the former storage room, he was surprised to see the lights were off and the room was quiet, though he could see the faint outline of Yuri sitting in front of the tank. Using his phone as a flashlight, Yuuri tiptoed into the room, sitting down next to the boy.

“The light seemed to scare him, so I turned them off for a while.” Yuri didn’t want for Yuuri to ask. “That’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, sometimes the darkness helps them get used to their surroundings.” Yuuri turned the flashlight off.”

“And you were right about the plants.” Yuri pointed to the plants, which the betta was hiding under.

“Have you picked out a name yet?” Yuuri asked.

“Beretta,” Yuri answered.

“Like the gun?” Yuuri was a bit surprised. “Isn’t that a bit violent?”

“I thought he looked sleek like a bullet,” Yuri said.

“Well, he’s your fish.” Yuuri half wished that Yuri had picked a calmer name for his pet.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound in the room coming from the whir of the filter.

“Thanks for coming with me.” Yuri sounded like he really didn’t want to say it, but he knew that he probably should all the same.

Yuuri nodded.

“Just be sure to take care of him.” He glanced over at Yuri, though he couldn’t make out much more than the shape of his face in the darkness. “Were you going to take him back to Russia with you?”

“Of course.” Yuri was appalled that Yuuri would suggest otherwise.

“Want to come down for some food?” Yuuri stood up, stretching his arms out in front of his chest. “We already had some food, but Victor was talking about making dinner later.” Sniffing the air, he added, “Actually, that’s probably him making something with seafood in it. How in the world did we manage to miss that one?”

“I think I’m going to sit here for a while.” Yuri shook his head.

“With your fish?” Yuuri questioned.

“I just want to make sure that he’s okay.” Yuri pulled his knees up to his chest, turning his attention back to the red and black betta fish in the aquarium.

Offering him a small smile, Yuuri turned and stepped out of the room. In the short amount of time that he’d owned the fish, Yuri had managed to get completely attached to him. He’d never seen Yuri show any sort of real interest in anything besides skating and it was nice to see a different side of the skater than the usual angry front he put on every day. 

“I guess Victor’s not the only one who’s full of surprises,” Yuuri said, walking down the hallway to see what Victor was making for dinner.


End file.
